Aundray Bruce, former Auburn and NFL football player, lifts some weights while at the Southeast YMCA on Monday, April 22, 2013, in Montgomery, Ala. Now 51 years old, Bruce says he’s still working out and doesn’t have any life-threatening injuries.

Aundray Bruce feels fine for someone who played 11 NFL seasons and says had four-a-day practices in his four years playing for Pat Dye at Auburn.

“I was fortunate,” Bruce said. “I was blessed. My career did not end like I wanted it to, but I have my health. I have my mind. I don’t have anything artificial on me. I don’t have extreme headaches. I still work out. I still jog. I still run. Not as much, but there aren’t any life-threatening injuries.”

That doesn’t mean the top overall pick in the 1988 draft out of Montgomery is satisfied with the NFL’s treatment of retired players.

“They really need help now,” Bruce said. “Once you’re finished playing, the NFL benefits, as far as health care, for some guys, man, they can’t get it, which is ridiculous when you look at how much money these teams are making annually. It’s ridiculous.”

“Some companies don’t have the amount of the money the NFL has, and they still give their retired people health plans and health packages,” Bruce said. “So, they can do be doing more and they can be doing it more quickly, but they don’t.”

To Bruce, the players risked it all for the game and the NFL isn’t doing enough in return for the retirees.

“We were so vibrant and running and having fun and enjoying the sport,” Bruce said. “Now some of them can’t talk, can’t walk and can’t get out of the bed and can’t feed themselves. It’s sad that the sport we grew up loving as kids and would play it for free as kids and get to the ultimate level, and when it’s done, they throw you away.”

Linebacker Aundray Bruce #93 of the Atlanta Falcons celebrates after sacking quarterback Warren Moon #1 of the Houston Oilers in Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium on September 9, 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Falcons defeated the Oilers 47-27.

Treatment vs. payment

The NFL reached a settlement in its concussion case with retired players in January 2017 that’s estimated will eventually cost more than $1 billion. In December 2016, CNN reported the settlement “could award up to $5 million each to players who retired before July 7, 2014.”

Last year, the New York Times reported that Dr. Ann McKee of Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation examined 111 deceased NFL players. Only one didn’t have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative disease linked to repeated blows to the head.

Turner was a lead plaintiff on the concussion-related lawsuit filed by more than 5,000 former players who included Davis and fellow Montgomery native Terry Beasley, a Robert E. Lee graduate.

An Auburn All-American receiver and first-round pick in 1972, Beasley, 66, is bed ridden and has short seizures daily, CNN reported in 2016.

"He has trouble speaking," said Beasley’s wife, Marlene. "Terry gets injections for the pain, but it never goes away. He sleeps for a couple hours when he can until the pain gets so bad that it wakes him up."

Bruce greatly sympathizes with those wives like Beasley’s who are taking care of their NFL husbands.

“I know they’re trying to change rules now and change helmets,” Bruce said. “All that is fine, but what about these players that have to depend on other people like their wives. To dress them. To wash them. Take them places. That’s hard on anybody.”

Having only played three NFL seasons, Beasley won't get the maximum award despite the severity of his condition, but his wife said the money will help pay for medical expenses.

“It's going to help us buy the medicines he needs, get the physical help he needs from remodeling our house to make it handicap accessible to having someone with him 24 hours a day," she said to CNN.

Relatives of former players who died with CTE — May receive $4 million.

Players with Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's — $3.5 million.

Players with a neurocognitive impairment such as moderate dementia — $3 million

Players with an impairment like early dementia — $1.5 million.

“Curtain No. 3”

Still, Davis is more concerned about the treatment, especially seeing when former NFL players like Dave Duerson, Junior Seau and Aaron Hernandez committing suicide and having CTE damage.

“You’ll see that they damaged that frontal lobe,” Davis said in talking about an area of the brain that, according to neuroskills.com, is involved in motor function, problem solving, spontaneity, memory, language, initiation, judgment, impulse control and social and sexual behavior.

“Nobody wants to talk about that, but you will see they have brain damage,” Davis added.

Running back David Meggett of the New England Patriots stretches prior to the Patriots 37-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Foxboro Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

David Meggett was sentenced in 2010 to 30 years in prison on charges of criminal sexual conduct and burglary. While those are serious crimes, cases like this involving former NFL players are being viewed differently because of the CTE studies.

The 5-foot-7 Meggett played 10 NFL seasons as a running back and kick returner.

“Nobody knows what’s behind Curtain No. 3,” Davis said. “All people see is Curtain No. 1, when a guy is on TV and he’s playing and he’s looking good and scoring touchdowns.”

Davis said he’s been doing daily meditation for seven years and believes it has benefited his health.